Whew! Betcha can't guess where that comes from, eh?
As is I-T just Mwah, or are Y'all growing tired of the never ending saber
rattlin' over Customer Cars in Formula 1? Which ironically, having just
completed the majority F1 team's Home track race has seemingly simmered down...
Having read Joe Saward's recent take upon the
never ending Customer Cars debate, I came away feeling the same, as I too have
prattled on before 'bout how I've seen this movie called Championship Auto
Racing Teams. (CART)
When in the 1990's there were at least five
individual Chassis Constructors: Eagle, Lola,
Penske, Reynard and Swift, along with four separate engine
manufacturers: Ford, Honda, Mercedes and
Toyota. Yet, inevitably the field shrank 'N shrank with the continuous
"Arms Race" of Customer dominance until ultimately Champ Car, the offshoot
of CART was left with just Lola chassis powered by Cosworth XFE turbo's after
Gerald "WHINER" Forsythe and
Kevin "Smiley face" Kalkhoven
liked the company so much they bought I-T! In order to procure
engines for their deflated Open Wheel Racing series...
And instead of Prattling on 'N on 'bout how
Formula 1 bills itself as the Pinnacle of Motorsports along with differentiating
itself by requiring each Constructor competing to build its own chassis, just
the little blurb above about Ford selling Cosworth to individual investors
should be enough to make F1 think about what happens when a major manufacturer
decides to leave the sport? As how likely will there be such willing
individuals to save the sport from falling on its ARSE?
Thus, slowly wading thru the No Fenders
archives, as I knew I'd scribbled 'bout this nefarious subject before, I
actually ended up creating a new labels
"Tag" whilst discovering I'd been writing about this subject
since 2006!
While the controversy continued on in early January
of 2007, when the first Customer roe
concerned Red Bull supplying chassis for its 'lil Seester' "B-Team," the little
Bulls, aka Scuderia Toro Rosso.
While I won't subject Y'all to every blinkin'
story, but the games continued when MAD MAX, not the awesome driver Max Papis,
but that character known as ex-FIA President Max Mosley who I took to calling
Sir maXXam, who attempted pushing through his version of 4-car Customer
teams 'Wayback in '07...
And does anybody remember Honda and
"Super Best Friends," nee Super Aguri, Honda's B-Team planning a
similar tactic, while David Richards Prodrive was set to do a customer supply deal with McLaren to enter
Formula 1 before abandoning its dreams
and settling to focus upon Sports Car endurance racing, i.e.; Le Mans instead.
Alas, without revisiting how the exodus of
such major automotive manufacturers decide to leave the sport at their whim,
ergo Honda, Toyota and BMW's withdrawal in 2008, not to mention the might of
"foMoCo," aka the Ford Motor Company, as has Cosworth ever been the
same since its divestiture from Ford?
As have Y'all Seen a Ford lately in Open Wheel
Racing?
Hence fast forward to earlier this year, prior to Melbourne when this "Groundhog
Day" topic once again reared its ugly head, for which I thought Felipe
Massa's comments on having a racing series where its entire podium was
routinely swept by a lone manufacturer, i.e.; Mercedes at the current moment
resonated the most!
As fortunately,
the little Minnowesqe Independent Constructors, nee Force India, Lotus, Manor
Marussia and Sauber are appropriately fighting back against this latest attack,
which seems to be under a never ending Full Court press...
While obviously
the pressure's upon the B-I-G Teams to try to convince the "Lemmings"
to fall into line and go along quietly with their Grand Designs, which
naturally revolves around Dinero and economy of scales...
As when's the last time I agreed with
"VJ Duh Playah;" (Vijay
Mallya) CRIKEYS! As he strikes me as nothing more
than a Wanna Be Billionaire Playboy, who's unfortunately driven his Airplane
empire into the ground! alas, I must
believe that like a-L-L F1 Team Bosses, Mallya has his own agenda, but nonetheless,
his points on this subject seem pretty succinct!
Alas, with this subject having now been broached by
Uncle Bernaughty and the various factions of Formula 1, i.e.; Max Mosley, Jean
Todt and the Stupendous F1 Strategy Group! I've suddenly come to the
realization that Customer Cars seems to be just one more of Messer Bernard Ecclestone
legendous' "Wedge Issues!" Since after all, aren't' A-L-L of the
current Formula 1 Constructors already legally bound by their current Concorde
Agreements or whatever they're called thru 2020?